TEACHING AND LEARNING

There were many suggestions that related to the very important process of learning in the literacy classroom:

• There were numerous calls to further promote the active participation of learners in developing learning plans, deciding the learning/instruction process, and assessing —a key adult learning principle.
• There was distinct advocacy for a variety of teaching approaches based on learner needs and community capacity. In other words, there was little call for standardization.
• There was one specific call for specifying a number of target groups and designing suggested methods for the teaching/learning process for each one.
• There were a few strong calls to officially recognize Family Literacy as an effective adult literacy strategy which is relevant and an important contributor to better family life.
• There was one call for explicit learning plans for each adult learner.
• There was one call to purchase and adopt a specific software learning program that is believed to be most effective.
• Many indicated that there was a need for more contact hours for learners where their personal circumstances allow.
• Many practitioners wanted a better method of assessing learners’ needs in order to build more effective programming.
• There were many calls for more professional development training for volunteer tutors and paid instructors/teachers. One presenter advocated for sufficient and current professional development as a means to attract and retain staff.
• There were a few strong calls to establish a modern and complete teacher resource library and to make it easily accessible.
• There was discussion among some practitioners regarding the current ‘Literacy Stages’ curriculum framework. There were reactions against the mandating of ‘Stages’ particularly if this were tied to funding. A few supported the use of ‘Stages’ for appropriate learners. Some organizations identified that the implementation of the Stages curriculum framework depends on sufficient program hours and learner contact time, which current funding levels do not support.
• There were a few calls to increase the promotion and use of the General Educational Development (GED) as an option for learners.
• There were some recommendations to establish a credible provincial post secondary program for teaching methodology. However this was not unanimous. A few groups, while not opposing the post secondary education component, objected to mandatory certification and the bureaucratic constraints that might come with it.
• There was general agreement that there should be a unique and specifically articulated set of skills that an effective adult literacy teacher/instructor should possess.
• Everyone who commented felt that the pay rates were too low for the teachers/instructors. There was one call for paid preparation time. However there was no consensus as to how far to fill the current gap that exists between literacy instructors/teachers and certified teachers.
• There were some strong recommendations both for and against standardizing wages according to credentials.
• There were many calls for transportation subsidies for learners.
• There were calls to strengthen the current Learn Line which provides important support for adult students in literacy programs.
• A few literacy programs are funded for operation in the summer. This was considered to be a good example of flexibility.